Safety stirrup



C. M. JAHN SAFETY STIRRUP Oct. 4, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 28,1964 I NVENTOR. @wri Ma JMM A T'TORNE Y C. M. JAHN Oct. 4, 1966 SAFETYSTIRRUP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 28, 1964 l vu INVENTOR @Mi ML JwfimATTORNEY United States Patent 3,276,185 SAFETY STIRRUP Carl M. Jahn,2640 St. Paul St., Denver, Colo. Filed Sept. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 399,48310 Claims. (Cl. 54-49) The present invention relates to equestrianapparatus and more particularly to a new and improved stirrup for use ona riding saddle.

The principal object of the present invention is to promote the safetyof a horseback rider by preventing the riders foot from becomingaccidentally caught or entangled in a stirrup while the rider ismounting or dismounting, or in the event the rider falls, slips, or isthrown from the horse.

It is an object of this invention to construct a stirrup in a mannersuch that a riders foot can be readily released or removed therefrom,and in such a manner that a foot cannot become entangled therein. Morespecifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a stirrupwhich will swing or pivot with respect to the stirrup strap in orderthat the riders foot will be quickly and easily released therefrom, andconstructed so that a riders foot and angle cannot pass completelythrough it.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a stirrup whichwill adjust to a position which facilitates the insertion or withdrawalof the riders foot when mounting or dismounting.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent as the following description proceeds taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a stirrup strap and stirrup embodying thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the stirrup mechanism shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the stirrup shown in FIG. 1,with portions cut away, illustrating a pivot and roller mechanismforming a part of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a stirrup embodying a modified form of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is an elevation view of the stirrup mechanism shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a section view taken substantially in the plane of line 66 onFIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of still another form of stirrup embodying certainfeatures of the present invention.

While certain illustrative forms of the invention are shown in thedrawings and will be described below in considerable detail, it shouldbe understood that there is no intention to limit the invention to thespecific forms and modifications disclosed. On the contrary, theintention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions,equivalents and uses of the present invention falling within the spiritand scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Those skilled in the equestrian arts will appreciate that a conventionalform of stir-rup (not shown in the drawings) is attached to a ridingsaddle by means of a stirrup strap which is looped at each end, with oneloop engaging the stirrup and the other loop engaging the saddle. Thesestraps are adjustable so that the saddle and stirrup may be adjustedaccording to the characteristics of an individual rider. When in use,the stirrup strap is twisted through a quarter revolution so that theriders feet can readily engage in the depending stirrups. Such aconventional stirrup may take a number of forms, a common form of whichis a generally U-shaped member, the free legs of which are pivotallymounted on a pin or the like passing through the loop in the stirrup3,276,185 Patented Oct. 4, 1966 strap. Because the stirrup strap must betwisted so that the stirrup faces outwardly of the horse when the rideris mounting or dismounting, the rider occasionally encounters sornedifficulty in conveniently placing his foot in the stirrup or inremoving it from the stirrup. Also, the rider is subjected to some riskof having his foot pass completely through the stirrup, thereby causingit to become entangled, and this mishap is particularly serious if therider falls or is thrown from the horse.

The present invention, meeting the objects set forth above and as shownin the drawings, has been found to substantially overcome theseforegoing difiiculties. To this end, the present invention is embodiedin a safety stirrup, indicated generally as 20 in FIG. 1, which stirrupdepends from a conventional adjustable stirrup strap 21. Essentially,the safety stirrup 20 comprises a lower, generally U-shaped stirrup 22swingably connected by means of an intervening yoke assembly 24 to theadjustable stirrup strap 21. In this manner, a compound swingingmovement is afforded so that the stirrup member 22 can swing relative tothe yoke assembly 24, as shown in FIG. 2, and at the same time the yokeassembly itself can swing with respect to the stirrup strap.

The yoke assembly 24 is, in the illustrative form shown in FIG. 1,constructed of a pair of arcuate yoke members 25, each being channelshaped in cross section so as to provide a pair of opposed ribs 26, 27joined by a web 28. For swingably securing said yoke members 25 to thestirrup strap 21, the members are formed at their upper free ends withan aperture extending through which is a bolt or pin 31, having a head32 on each end thereof. This pin 31 in turn passes through a sleeve 34positioned inside the loop in the stirrup strap 21 so that each yokemember 25 is pivotally or swingably suspended from the strap '21. Itshould be app-reciated that any appropriate pin construction can beprovided, and the pin may be either permanent or replaceable- Forpurposes of swingably suspending the stirrup 22, the arcuate yokemembers 25 are each provided at their lower ends with an aperture 35defined by an outwardly struck boss 36 on which is swingably mounted theupper end of the corresponding leg of the stirrup 22. To this end, eachleg of the U-shaped stirrup is provided with an aperture 38 of a sizesufficient to fit over the boss 36, and the stirrup leg is held on theboss 36 by means of an appropriate rivet 39 or other fastener havingopposed heads 40, 41, one of which engages the stirrup leg, as shown inFIG. 3. The illustrative form of a stirrup member 22 shown in FIGS. 1-3,comprises a gene-rally U-shaped channel member defining a footsupportingbase 42 having upwardly extending legs 44, 45 on each end thereofextending upwardly into swingable engegament with the arcuate yokemembers 25. The stirrup is formed of channel shaped material whichdefine strengthening ribs 46, 47 extending downwardly and out- Wardlyalong the edges of the base 42 and legs 44, 45.

When a rider inserts his foot through a stirrup, his toe passes throughthe stirrup from one side, herein referred to as the heel side of thestirrup or the side toward the rear of the saddle to the other sidewhich will be referred to as the toe side of the stirrup or the sidetoward the front of the saddle. Referring to FIG. 2, the rib 46 definesthe heel side, and the rib 47 defines the toe side of the stirrup 22. Toinsure that the riders foot will not be caught in the stirrup, it isdesirable that the stirrup swing forwardly or in the direction of thetoe side. Accordingly, the arcuate yoke members 25 are positioned insuch a manner that the yoke members 25 are convex in the direction ofthe toe side of the stirrup shown in FIG. 2, and stop means are providedto prevent a similar swinging movement toward the heel side of thestirrup.

One illustrative stop means on the stirrup shown in the drawings isformed by the rib 46 on the heel side of the stirrup which engages therib 27 on the heel or Concave side of the arcuate yoke member 25. Inthis manner, the abutting ends or edges of the ribs 46 and 27 form stopswhich prevent a regressive or heel-direction swinging of the stirrup 22.To insure that the stirrup may swing forwardly, the corresponding rib 47on the toe side of the stirrup and the rib 26 on the convex side of thearcuate yoke members, are each cut so as to terminate short of the pivotor hinge joint and are thus spaced apart as shown in FIG. 2.

In order to prevent the riders foot from slipping through the stirrup22, means are provided to engage the instep of the riders :foot beforethe heel has passed completely through the stirrup. To this end, thereis provided a roller 50 or other instep engaging means mounted betweenthe yoke members 25 in a position parallel to and overlying the base 42of the stirrup 22. It has been discovered that the use of a roller isparticularly desirable in that it affords an easy withdrawal of theriders foot from the stirrup and prevents the foot or the riders shoefrom catching or becoming entangled in the yoke assembly.

For mounting the roller 50 in the yoke assembly 24 between the arcuateyoke members 25, each such yoke member 25 is provided with one or moremounting holes 51 through which screws 52 or other fasteners extend intoengagement with a roller pinion or spindle 54 on which the roller 50 ispivotally supported. The roller spindle 54, being fixed between the yokemembers 25, further serves to add support to the yoke and therebyincreases the strength of the yoke assembly 24.

It should be observed that the combination of the roller with theswinging mounting of the stirrup adds a further safety feature in thatas the stirrup 22 swings forward with respect to the yoke assembly 24the vertical distance between the base 42 of the stirrup and the roller50 decreases as is clearly shown in FIG. 2. This movement results in adecrease of the vertical space available for the riders foot, whichslides off the base 42 of the stirrup, is forced outwardly from thestirrup, and is thereby prevented from becoming entangled or hooked inthe stirrup.

Turning now to certain modified forms of the present invention, there isshown in FIGS. 4, and 6 a stirrup construction similar to that describedabove, but with means providing for a vertical pivoting movement of theyoke and stirrup with respect to the stirrup strap. It will beappreciated that when a rider is mounting or dismounting it is necessaryto turn the stirrup so that it is facing outwardly from the horse, sothat the rider can insert or withdraw his foot from the stirrup. Tofacilitate this pivoting movement, there is provided a yoke similar tothat described above, but constructed in two parts which are pivotallyjoined together as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. To this end, there isprovided a U-shaped lower yoke member 60 the horizontal portion or top61 of which is pivotally connected to the horizontal portion or base 62of a similar U-shaped upper yoke member 64. The upper U-shaped member 64is swingably mounted on the lower end of a stirrup strap in the samemanner as described above and shown in FIG. 1, while the lower U-shapedmember 60 supports a stirrup, again in a manner like that shown inFIG. 1. It is not believed necessary at this point to describe in detailthe connection between the upper yoke member 64 and the strap 21a exceptto note that it includes a sleeve 34a received 'within the lower loop ofa stirrup strap 21a and swingably supporting a stirrup bolt or pin 31aextending between legs 65 of the upper yoke member 64. Similarly, asdescribed above, the lower yoke member 60 comprises generally arcuateyoke members 25a between which is mounted a roller 50a and swingablydepending from which is a stirrup 22a.

While any appropriate pivot connection may suflice, it has beendiscovered that by providing a pivot connection which affords areleasable friction engagement between the upper and lower yoke membersis preferable. To this end, the horizontal portion or top 61 of loweryoke member 60 and the horizontal portion or base 62 of the upper yokemember 64 are each constructed so as to be generally channel shaped asshown in FIG. 6, with the webs of the opposing channels abutting eachother and held together by means of a rivet or other fastener 66 and aninterposed leaf spring 68. If desired, an additional leaf spring may beemployed at the opposite end of the rivet 66 to give added flexibility.

In order to prevent the stirrup stnap and upper yoke member portion 64from in-terferring with the riders foot or leg, the pivot is desirablyplaced off-center as shown in FIG. 4. More particularly, this oft-centerpivot should be located toward the outside of the stirrup and yoke, thatis toward the side away from the horse when the rider is mounted. Asviewed in FIG. 4, the right side of the stirrup would be the sideclosest to the horse, and it will'be noted that the pivot is nearer theleft side, or the side away from the horse. In this manner, as thestirrup pivots it will be positioned outwardly and away from the horse,giving additional clearance for the riders foot. The position of thestirrup when the yokes 60, 64 are pivoted with respect to one another isshown in FIG. 5. The pivoting movement is accomplished by the riderplacing some weight or a downward force on the stirrup as he pivots itwith respect to the stirrup strap. This force, acting against the spring68, separates the yoke members so that they may be turned with respectto one another. When the force is released, the yoke members are onceagain urged tightly together and remain in the position in which theywere left.

To further the ease of withdrawal or insertion of the riders foot into astirrup, there is provided still another modified form of stirrup asshown in FIG. 7. In this form, a conventional U-shaped stirrup 70 isprovided with a base roller 71 and one or more side rollers 72, 73.These rollers may be mounted in the stirrup in any conventional mannersuch as by the pins 74 as shown in FIG. 7. With this construction,together with the swing ing or pivotal mounting of the stirrup on a yoke75, a riders foot is easily inserted or withdrawn from the stirrup. Therollers reduce the friction between the foot and the stirrup and therebyenhance the safety characteristics of the stirrup.

It should be appreciated that various combinations of the features shownmay be used. For example, the stirrup shown in FIG. 7 may be employed,in lieu of the U-shaped stirrup 22, with the yoke mechanism shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, or with the yoke mechanism shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.Alternatively, one or both of the side rollers 72, 73 may be omitted, orthe base roller 71 may be omitted and the side rollers 72, 73 onlyemployed. It should also be appreciated that by providing a plurality ofholes 51 as shown in FIG. 2, the instep engaging roller 50 may beadjusted to accommodate different riders.

I claim as my invention:

1. A safety stirrup for use on a saddle having a stirrup strap dependingtherefrom, said safety stirrup comprising, in combination, a U-shapedstirrup, a pair of spaced arcuate yoke members, means extending betweencorresponding ends of said yoke members and swingably supporting thesame on the stirrup strap with said arcuate yoke members positioned soas to be convex toward the front of the saddle, means swingably mountingthe opposite ends of said yoke members to corresponding legs of saidU-shaped stirrup, stop means on said U-shaped stirrup engageable withcorresponding stop means on said yoke members for limiting swingingmovement of said U-shaped stirrup in the direction toward the rear ofthe saddle, and means rotatably mounted between said yoke members andoverlying said stirrup for engaging a riders foot and preventing thesame from slipping through the stirrup, said rotatable means actingagainst a riders foot to force the same out of the stirrup when saidstirrup swings in the direction toward the front of the saddle.

2. A safety stirrup for use on a saddle having a stirrup strap dependingtherefrom, said safety stirrup comprising, in combination, a stirrup,means comprising a pair of spaced arcuate yoke members joined at theirupper ends to a pin engaged with said stirrup strap and pivotallyconnected at their lower ends to respective ends of said stirrup, saidarcuate yoke members being convex toward the front of said saddle, stopmeans on said arcuate yoke members engageable with corresponding stopmeans on said stirrup for limiting swinging movement of said stirrup inthe direction of the rear of the saddle, and a footengaging rollermounted axially between said arcuate yoke members for engaging a ridersfoot when said stir-rup swings in the direction of the front of thesaddle, whereby a riders foot is precluded from becoming entangled insaid stirrup.

3. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 1 wherein said U-shaped stirruphas a roller mounted in the base thereof.

4. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 1 wherein said U-shaped stirruphas a pair of opposed rollers mounted in the legs thereof for engagingthe sides of a riders foot.

5. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 1 wherein said rotatable meansis mounted between said arcuate members so that said rotatable means isaway from a riders foot when said foot is in normal riding position insaid stirrup.

6. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 1, wherein said means extendingbetween corresponding ends of said yoke members and swingably supportingthe same on the stirrup strap includes a pivot means whereby saidstirrup can pivot about a vertical axis relative to said stirrup strap.

7. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 1, wherein said means extendingbetween corresponding ends of said arcuate yoke members and swingablysupporting the same on the stirrup strap includes a first yoke means,means swingably mounting said first yoke means on the stirrup strap,second yoke means incorporating said arcuate yoke members, and meanspivotally connecting said first yoke means to said second yoke means,said pivotally connecting means being off-center in a direction awayfrom the saddle and releasably holding said first and second yoke meanstogether in frictional engagement, whereby said stirrup can be pivotedabout a vertical axis relative to said stirrup strap.

8. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 7, wherein said rotatable meansis mounted between the arcuate members of said second yoke means so thatsaid rotatable means is away from a riders foot when said foot is innormal riding position in said stirrup.

9. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 7, wherein said U-shaped stirruphas a roller mounted in the base thereof.

10. A safety stirrup as defined in claim 7, wherein said U-shapedstirrup has a pair of opposed rollers mounted in the leg thereof forengaging the sides of a riders foot.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 30,369 10/1860Williamson 5449 49,103 8/1865 Gould 5449 143,732 10/1873 Thompson 5449608,605 8/1898 House 54-49 884,197 4/1908 McTigue 5449 908,265 12/1908Ivey 5449 1,087,762 2/1914 Harms 54-49 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,171 9/1913Great Britain. 22,814 8/ 1900 Great Britain. 446,187 3/ 1949 Italy.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

ALDRICH F. MEDBERY, Examiner.

2. A SAFETY STIRRUP FOR USE ON A SADDLE HAVING A STIRRUP STRAP DEPENDING THEREFROM, SAID SAFETY STIRRUP COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A STIRRUP, MEANS COMPRISING A PAIR OF SPACED ARCUATE YOKE MEMBERS JOINED AT THEIR UPPER ENDS TO A PIN ENGAGED WITH SAID STIRRUP STRAP AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT THEIR LOWER ENDS TO RESPECTIVE ENDS OF SAID STIRRUP, SAID ARCUATE YOKE MEMBERS BEING CONVEX TOWARD THE FRONT OF SAID SADDLE, STOP MEANS ON SAID ARCUATE YOKE MEMBERS ENGAGEABLE WITH CORRESPONDING STOP MEANS ON SAID STIRRUP FOR LIMITING SWINGING MOVEMENT OF SAID STIRRUP IN THE DIRECTION OF THE REAR OF THE SADDLE, AND A FOOTENGAGING ROLLER MOUNTED AXIALLY BETWEEN SAID ARCUATE YOKE MEMBERS FOR ENGAGING A RIDER''S FOOT WHEN SAID STIRRUP SWINGS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE FRONT OF THE SADDLE, WHEREBY A RIDER''S FOOT IS PRECLUDED FROM BECOMING ENTANGLED IN SAID STIRRUP. 